Baby poo: a visual guide (photos)

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What should baby poo look like?

Most new parents find baby poo quite surprising! It has so many shades and consistencies that even experienced parents may not have seen them all. This photo guide to baby poo will give you a good idea of what's normal and what's not as your newborn grows, drinks breastmilk or formula, and starts eating solids.

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Newborn poo: meconium

Expect to find a greenish-black, tarry, sticky stool that looks like motor oil in your newborn's nappy. Since meconium is made of amniotic fluid, mucus, skin cells, and other stuff ingested in the womb, it doesn't really smell - so you may not realise it's time for a nappy change.

When your baby is two days to four days old, his stools will become lighter in colour - sort of an army green, and less sticky. This transitional stool is a sign that he's started digesting early breastmilk or formula and that his intestinal tract is fine.

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Healthy breastfed poo

If your baby is exclusively breastfed, her stools will be yellow or slightly green and have a mushy or creamy consistency. It may be runny enough to resemble diarrhoea. Breastfed poo typically looks like Dijon mustard and cottage cheese mixed together and may be dotted with little seed-like flecks. Interestingly, its smell isn't too bad.

There are many shades of normal when it comes to breastfed poo. One you might see is a greener hue, which could signify that you have eaten something different to what you normally do. If your baby isn't experiencing any other symptoms, there's no need to worry.

If you see bright green and frothy stools in your baby's nappy, almost like algae, she's probably getting too much foremilk - the low-calorie milk that comes first in a feeding - and not enough hindmilk, the good higher-fat stuff. It could mean that you're not feeding her long enough on each breast. To remedy this, start each feeding on the breast you ended on last time.

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Healthy formula-fed poo

Formula-fed babies have pasty, peanut butter-like stools on the brown colour spectrum: tan-brown, yellow-brown, or green-brown. It's more pungent than poo from breastfed babies and a little less pungent than stools from babies who are eating solid food, but you'll recognise the smell.

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Iron-fortified poo

If you give your baby an iron supplement, his stools may turn dark green or almost black. This doesn't happen often, but it's a completely normal variation that would make Popeye proud.

One thing: If your baby's poo looks blackish and he's not taking an iron supplement, you should call the doctor to make sure it's not digested blood (melena).

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Solid-food poo

Once you start changing your baby's input to solid foods - rice cereal, pureed bananas, and so on - you'll quickly notice a change in her output, especially if she's breastfed.

Solid-food stools tend to be brown or dark brown and thicker than peanut butter, but still mushy. It's also smellier.

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Poo with partially digested food

Occasionally your baby's poo will have identifiable chunks of food in it or be tinged with a surprising colour, such as red, orange, or dark blue. Orange suggests carrots, and dark blue implies blueberries (you may see pieces of blueberry skin in there, too).

Not to worry! You're probably seeing this because certain foods are only partially digestible or travel so quickly through the intestines that they don't have time to completely break down. It also happens when your baby eats a lot of one type of food or doesn't chew a mouthful completely before he swallows.

The time to call the doctor is if your baby's poo consistently has undigested food in it. The doctor will check to make sure your baby's intestines are absorbing food and nutrients properly.

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Diarrhoea

In babies, diarrhoea is very runny and appears to be made up of water more than solids. It can be yellow, green, or brown and can seep or explode out of the nappy.

Diarrhoea can be a sign of an infection or allergy, and if it lasts for a while without being treated, can lead to dehydration. Call the doctor if your baby is three months old or younger, has more than two or three diarrhoea-filled nappies, or continues having diarrhoea for more than a day or two.

It's also wise to call the doctor if your baby's diarrhoea contains visible blood or mucus.

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Constipation

If your baby's stool is hard and looks like little pebbles, she's probably constipated. Your baby may be visibly uncomfortable when she's pooing, and the poo may even be tinged with blood from irritating the anus on the way out.

One or two pebbly nappies aren't a concern, but if your baby has three or more (or if you see blood), it's best to call the doctor. Constipation often happens in babies who are being introduced to solid foods, or it can be a sign of milk or soy protein sensitivity or a lack of tolerance to something in breast milk or formula. Your doctor may recommend giving your baby water, pear juice, or prune juice to help move things along.

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Poo with mucus

Does your baby's nappy look like it's been slimed? Greenish poo streaked with shiny, glistening strings means there's mucus in it. This sometimes happens when a baby is especially drooly, since mucus in saliva often remains undigested.

But mucus in poo is also a telltale sign of an infection or allergy. If it's accompanied by any other symptoms or shows up in your baby's nappy for two days or more, call the doctor to rule out any problems.

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Bloody poo: bright red blood

Bright red blood can show up in baby stools for a few different reasons. Call your doctor if you notice:

Constipated poo with a hint of red blood. This is likely to be a result of tears in the anus or tiny haemorrhoids.

Diarrhoea mixed with red blood, which can indicate a bacterial infection.

Sometimes the blood in a baby's stool looks black, which means it's been digested. When this digested blood appears in a baby's nappy - usually in little flecks that look like black poppy or sesame seeds - it's often because the baby is breastfed and swallowing blood from Mum's cracked and bleeding nipples.

While this is a sign that you need some pain relief, it doesn't pose a threat to your baby. Still, you should call the doctor to make sure it's not something more serious, like bleeding from your baby's upper intestinal tract.

My baby boy is now 3mths old.he always poo 2times a day runny yellow pooh,but now his poo is very dark green,and not runny.he only poo every second day sometimes he skips 4days.I breast feed,and in mornings he get formula (NAN) when I'm at work.I can't pump out,for I don't have enough milk.his poo is very smelly aswell.is this normal?I tried everything.he is very uncomfortable it disrupts his sleep aswell.please help

To SJST
I remember my little boy doing this, and it really was fine. I think they are just learning to poo really. I used infacol to help with the wind. Even though he used to strain a lot he never really seemed to be in pain, only with the wind, not the actual poo'ing. Try not to worry :-) Always check with your doc if you're not sure. I'm sure I actually did pop in to my doc just to check and he said it was normal and he remembered his daughter doing a similar thing x

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